8 Wrestling Statistics That Will Blow Your Mind 1

1. The Longest Wrestling Match Ever Went 2 Hours, Five Minutes And 42 Seconds

Pop quiz, hot shot! What’s the longest wrestling match to ever take place? Many people would probably pick a Royal Rumble match, which typically last in excess of one hour. Maybe you’d be inclined to go with the 60 minute Iron Man match between Shawn Michaels and Bret Hart from WrestleMania XII — which actually lasted longer due to the sudden-death overtime. Well, if you combined the Iron Man contest and a Royal Rumble, you’d get the longest match in history.
Two hours, five minutes, and 42 seconds — or 2:05:42. That’s the length of the longest professional wrestling match ever. Perhaps unsurprisingly, this marathon of a contest came to us from Japan. Masa Saito and Antonio Inoki were embroiled in a bitter feud in New Japan Pro Wrestling. On October 4th of 1987, the two settled their differences in the two-plus hour brawl.
Not only was the match the longest in history, it was also possibly the most ridiculous, insane, strange, and awesome wrestling contest ever. The two did battle in an Island Deathmatch. What’s that, you ask? It’s actually pretty self-explanatory. Inoki and Saito were placed on  Ganryujima Island, where a ring had been set up. Ganryujima Island held special significance, as it played host to a famous duel between two Japanese swordsman in 1612.
Inoki and Saito brawled inside the ring and around the island for the duration of the contest. There was no referee, only the two combatants. After more than two hours, Inoki was finally able to defeat Saito by TKO or technical knockout. Both men were left covered in blood, and Inoki simply walked away as Saito crawled onto a stretcher — there were press and medical staff present on the island.
It was an absolutely insane affair that will very likely hold onto its longest match honor for eternity. The match type would be used again in 1991, as Hiroshi Hase did battle with Tiger Jeet Singh on the island. However, their contest would come nowhere close — in both length and notoriety — to the fight between Antonio Inoki and Masa Saito.